Does This Love Suit Your Taste? - Volume 1 Chapter 8.6

Riz au Lait 6

“Help me!! Toui-kun————!!!!!!”

——Bangg! Slam! Clank- Clank- slam-!

At the tremendous explosive sound, Kazama momentarily stiffens his shoulders and turns away from the Rira he was about to attack

There, lying on the ground split in two is the classroom door and standing with his right leg outstretched towards her——the figure Rira had longed for.

“Toui-kun…”

“——Hey, mushroom-haircut guy.”

Toui carelessly stepped on the fragments of the door he had destroyed with his right leg and glared at Kazama.

“Get your hands off Shirahime.”

Toui’s cold eyes pierce Kazama.

“Kiminami Toui… you’re always in my way… Rira has already abandoned you! What right do you have now!”

“Then are you saying you’re doing that because you have the right to? Shirahime doesn’t like it.”

“I’m doing this because I’m thinking of Rira’s happiness… Nobody even tries to understand me… Fine, if that’s the case, I’ll make everyone understand!”

Fuming with anger, Kazama cracks his knuckles and heads towards Toui. He’s clearly intent on throwing a punch.

“You bastardddd!——Guh!”

Kazama’s full-force punch is easily swept aside by Toui’s backhand.

Thud- thud-

Furthermore, Toui’s swift yet heavy double kick hits Kazama on both sides.

“Ugh…”

Kazama suffers, holding his ribs.

Seizing the gap, Toui raises his leg on the spot and leaps at him.

Like the trajectory of an arrow piercing high ground, Toui’s roundhouse kick strikes him—the top of his foot smashes into Kazama’s head.

The blow to the head has a significant impact on Kazama, and as if his soul has left him, he staggers on the spot with an unsteady step.

Toui does not overlook this chance either.

“I’ll kill you.”

Toui’s signature move, a savate kick, pierces into Kazama’s chest and sends Kazama flying towards the back of the classroom.

There, a barricade of desks awaited him.

“Ughhhhhhh——!!!!”

The barricade collapsed in an instant from the impact of Kazama’s touch, burying Kazama alive.

Rira was stunned by Toui’s overwhelming strength.

” ‘Nobody even tries to understand me’, huh? I knew someone who said similar stuff. Wasn’t a great person, though.”

Kazama, buried under the rubble, had no room to respond.

“…Dead?”

Toui watched the avalanche unfold and asked Kazama, who was buried under a mountain of desks.

“Don’t… Don’t joke around… I’m not done yet…”

“Oh, really?”

Then Toui roughly brushed off the desks piled on top of Kazama,

“I guess it’s not enough.”

After exposing Kazama’s body, he proceeded to stomp on Kazama’s stomach with all his might.

“Aaaghhhhh!”

He stomps several more times.

“After all the things you’ve done—”

Stomp-

“…you must be prepared for this—”

Stomp-

“——Right?”

Stomp-

“Guh… Coughh… Ugh… I-it hurts… it hurts…”

“Stop whining over something like this. Come on, get up.”

Then, grabbing the battered Kazama by the collar, he throws him to the edge of the classroom. Kazama hits his back hard and lets out a gasping cry.

Rira, with her eyes still wet, just stares blankly at the scene.

The one being attacked now is the person who tried to humiliate her.

Of course, she has no intention to help him. Rira can’t restrain the fully enraged Toui anyway.

“What were you planning to do to Shirahime?”

“I… I just wanted to make Rira happy… It turned out this way because Rira resisted… because Rira was brainwashed by you.”

“Hey, that’s not answering my question. Do you really want to die that badly?”

“If she could just be mine… I could make Rira happy——”

” ! “

Toui’s complexion changed at those words, and as he grabbed Kazama by the collar and glared fiercely, he shouted.

“Happiness is something she decides for herself!!”

Toui fiercely lays out his words, advocating for Rira’s happiness as if it were his own matter.

“Happiness is different for everyone! Some find happiness in eating a chef’s gourmet meal, while others find it in the time spent eating a meal made by their family. Some find happiness in not worrying about money, while others find it in the simple, everyday things. Shirahime’s happiness is for Shirahime to find! You have no right to talk about Shirahime’s happiness!!”

Knowing Toui’s position and nature, those words weigh heavily and deeply resonate with Rira.

After finishing, Toui sighs deeply and throws Kazama aside.

“This guy’s hopeless, can’t even talk with this one. Shirahime, what did this guy do to you?”

Without turning to her, Toui asks her to explain.

“He, confessed to me… and when I refused, he attacked me… He knew everything we were doing here… and threatened me with it…”

“Everything…? You bastard, how much did you find out…”

“I heard that you were doing what Rira said in exchange for a kiss… and that you were engaged…”

“Got it. It would be annoying for both me and Shirahime if this got out because of his grudge after I beat him up. If you can keep the secret and never come near us again, I’ll let you off just this once. But if you break this promise——I’ll really have to kill you.”

“I-I’m sorry… Please let me go…”

“…Get lost.”

“Damn it…”

Kazama clutched his abdomen and staggered out of the classroom.

Glancing towards the entrance, Rira noticed the dazzling light from outside shining through the broken doorway of the narrow, dimly lit classroom.

“——Almost became someone who couldn’t get married, huh?”

Rira couldn’t find the right words to respond to Toui’s joke.

“…Are you hurt? Did he do anything else to you?”

Toui, illuminated by the light, turned towards Rira.

“…N-No, I’m okay. Nothing happened…”

“That’s good then… But hey, you’ve been avoiding me, right?”

Toui scratches his head, looking embarrassed.

There’s so much she wants to say.

I’m sorry for avoiding you, but I didn’t want to see you looking so troubled. 

I didn’t know what to do, so I kept my distance.

Thank you for forgiving such a selfish me. I realized when we were apart. I still want to depend on you.

That’s what she wants to tell him, but inside Rira, another self restrains her.

I must not trouble Toui, she thinks.

Because of that, she ends up thinking not about what she wants to say but about what the right thing to say is.

“…Sorry. I don’t know what to do… I feel sorry for Toui-kun… But there’s also Dad, and I just don’t know… I just don’t know anymore… Sorry… Sorry…”

But that worry was unnecessary. Unable to speak properly and on the verge of breaking down, Rira receives a gentle smile from Toui.

“…Shirahime, do you have time now?”

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